If you’ve ever scrolled on Ghana’s instagram pages for wedding inspiration, you have probably come across a Pistis bride.
The topic has always been around the pricing but just take a glance at a Pistis bride and you will see quality, creativity and a work of art, literally.
This outlook of a brand that is fit to be put side by side with the most rated of fashion brands across the globe is 15 years of dedication and hard work.
Right from the start, Kabutey Dzietror and Sumaiya Dzietror knew what the goal was, to follow their passion and make an impact.
"I remember growing up, I used to watch TV a lot."
Sumaiya Dzietror who is the Co-founder and Creative Director at Pistis in a mini documentary 'The Pistis Story'
"And I started hearing of Joyce Ababio. I think before I turned 12. She was a fashion designer. And I heard of Kofi Ansah. I remember in school my teacher asked what we wanted to be in future. Everybody started mentioning what they wanted to be and that was the first time. I think I wasn’t even 12, I said I wanted to be a fashion designer."
Sumaiya
Co-founder and Head of Operations at Pistis Kabutey Dzietror recalls his first encounter with fashion that propelled him to be a partner in Ghana's most luxurious wedding fashion brand. And ow, a partner for life.
"In JHS, I saw one of my teasers printing a shirt."
Kabutey said in 'The Pistis Story'
"I think that was my first interest in fashion, the screen printing on T-shirts. So over the years, during my secondary school and early university years, I was in the T-shirt business and eventually I wanted to branch to mainstream fashion, making actual clothes.
"There were some challenges in getting the products made so I almost gave up. Then I saw a friend of mine who had enrolled in a formal fashion school and that rekindled my interest. I went to the fashion school,I met Sumaiya and then we put things together, ideas together and here we are."
Kabutey
The two met from a fashion sketchbook. Sumaiya was passing with her sketch book and Kabutey asked to see the sketchbook. The birth of a new and impactful fashion brand in Ghana and beyond.
Kabutey and Sumaiya’s attributes complimented each other for what Pistis is today. He had an eye for business and its operations. She had a creative eye for art. The common interest for both, fashion.
“We had a common interest. He likes fashion, I also like fashion. But this is a guy who had a business sense of it. I’m more into the arts. I don’t even care how much it earns me. I just want to see something that is nice.”
Sumaiya
The couple were so good at what they did that even after school, Joyce Ababio commissioned them to handle some of her projects and clients so she could focus more on her students for the fashion school.
Sumaiya and Kabutey purchased some contemporary fabrics also known as fose fabric from a vendor at a trade fair at the Trade Fair Centre in Labadi, Ghana about 15 years ago. This was random. The duo pitched the sale of the nice fabric to Kabutey’s sister with an ad-on of creating dresses with the fabric for her.
When she started wearing the clothes, people were surprised her outfits were made in Ghana. They asked for referrals to the people making it and that was the start of Pistis.
“They started coming one by one. We started doing it for weddings and for guests, and then slowly we started trying it on flower girls and then bridesmaids."
Creative Director Sumaiya tells the story of how Pistis was started
Pistis then took it a step further by partnering with Miss Malaika to make dresses for the contestants and then host, Naa Ashokor.
The brand’s move to be among market leaders on the continent and the globe at large did not come by chance. Kabutey and Sumaiya had to figure out a way to be unique with a local touch but also meet international standards. For who their target market was, a great insight into the body of the customers was non negotiable and they nailed it to perfection.
"We’ve studied the African woman’s body. All the curves, where she likes to be accentuated, her waist, how to cinch her waist properly. It’s very important to all the African women.
"We studied what we have in terms of fashion, especially for the Kente fabric. And seeing a way in which we can manipulate the Kente fabric - one, the fabric itself and the styles that the fabric can be used for."
Head of Operations at Pistis, Kabutey
One of the things Pistis revolutionized is how the Ghanaian woman looks in her Kente wedding outfit.
The major challenge was making a corset with the Kente weave. But Pistis was not going to give up. During a knowledge acquisition trip to Oxford specifically on corsets, she finally discovered how to go around the challenge.
“In 2017 when we decided to go and learn how to corset in Oxford, my teacher told me that, the way our weave is, it cannot be used to make a corset."
"And it was true. It was kind of difficult. We started it and it started ripping out. It was handwoven and you can’t put bone in something like that for it to fit the human body because you need it to be very tight.
“We tried and tried and discovered the fish boning which was an undergarment in the Victorian age. We discovered and realized it actually fits properly with the Kente fabric.”
Sumaiya tells the story that broke ground on how Kente wedding outfits look in this age.
Such attention to detail has paid off over the course of 15 years. Brides can’t get over their looks when they engage the services of Pistis. And Pistis owes such tremendous feats partly to their staff who spend most of their time granting the wishes of prospective brides who want to look good on their big day.
This quest starts from looking out for local talents who are committed and consistently delivering on expectations that do not just meet needs and quality requirements of the local markets but also international standards.
Pistis also plays its part in making this a sustainable means of operating by motivating their talents to make them work with glee in their hearts. From knowledge acquisition, monthly recognitions, yearly awards to a full staff international vacation to Dubai, their zeal to make their staff happy is unrivaled.
15 years is a long time to be dedicated to a passion but also a short time for the impact Pistis has made in the fashion industry, specifically for weddings.
Their wedding dresses are everywhere - and at a quality standard that can compete among the best there are. For Kabutey and Sumaiya, they were hopeful and wanted to prove a point in a fashion industry that had many doubts. And they did, with Pistis.
"When we started, we didn’t think about when we were going to open a three-floor apartment just for fashion. Way back fashion was seen in a different light. We wanted to make a point that you can make a living out of it."
Kabutey
Pistis means faith, faith in God, faith in the owners and faith in all their customers.
